So I was having a friendly chat with my brother yesterday, and he misunderstood what I meant by changing the kit on a game. We discussed what he understood me to say, and came up with this - A complete game theme/image from the ground up. This would require:
1. Creating own images on blank reel strips
2. Screenprinting Top and Belly glass
3. Creating custom SIMM for sound - assuming S2000 base machine
4. other stuff?
So, lets assume I take an existing theme game like Phantom of the opera or something similar.
Replace the reel strips with reel strips that have new imagery in the same locations as the original game. This mean I get to keep the original game chip.
Taking care of the glass should be easy, just build and image and print it to a material like Teslin and affix to the back of cut tempered glass.
The custom Simm - I assume there are files on the simm in a binary format that are called by game conditions. I'm assuming they are fixed size files and stored on the simm by location - or they are given file names and stored on the simm in a normal file system format like FAT. Either way, by knowing which file or location was called, you could burn your own audio files to the simm.
So questions...
1. Would the S2000 platform be the best way to tackle this project? Or would another platform be better suited?
2. Anyone notice anything else I'm missing?
3. Does anyone have any idea of the file structure, or method that the IGT uses to call custom audiofiles from the simm?
4. If another machine is a better platform - what other work would need to be done?
5. Is there a better way to do custom glass?
6. Is there a source for blank reel strips?
7. Is there a better way to manufacture custom reel strips?
8. Am I biting off more than I can chew? (Is this project even possible?)